I believe reading is the cheat code most engineers skip. Here’s what’s on my shelf — the ones that actually changed how I think.
📖 Currently Reading
- 🧠 Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
Your brain has two systems. System 1 is fast and wrong. System 2 is slow and lazy. Understanding this changes how you make decisions — in code and in life. - 🏗️ A Philosophy of Software Design — John Ousterhout
Complexity is the #1 enemy. Every line you write either fights it or feeds it. - 📊 Designing Data-Intensive Applications — Martin Kleppmann
The bible of system design. If you build anything that touches a database, read this.
📚 Want to Read
- 🔧 System Design Interview — Alex Xu
- 🐍 Fluent Python — Luciano Ramalho
- 🧪 Staff Engineer — Will Larson
✅ Finished
- 🌹 The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A children’s book that hits harder as an adult. “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” - 🧩 Design Patterns — Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides (Gang of Four)
The OG software design book. Dense, but foundational. - 💡 The Pragmatic Programmer — Andrew Hunt & David Thomas
The book that turns coders into engineers. Every tip is practical and timeless. - 🍖 The Nasty Bits — Anthony Bourdain
Raw, funny, honest essays about food, travel, and life from the kitchen’s most fearless voice. - 💥 Slaughterhouse-Five — Kurt Vonnegut
“So it goes.” Anti-war, time-bending, absurdist brilliance. You’ll never forget Billy Pilgrim. - 🎯 The Art of Learning — Josh Waitzkin
From chess prodigy to martial arts champion. How to learn anything deeply — not just fast. - 🔒 Deep Work — Cal Newport
Focus is a superpower. This book convinced me that distraction is the real enemy of great engineering. - 🧠 The Great Mental Models — Shane Parrish
Thinking tools from multiple disciplines. First principles, inversion, second-order thinking — frameworks for better decisions.
Got a book recommendation? I’m always looking for the next one that’ll break my brain in a good way.
